Science in a Very Large Universe

" It is no surprise that information about us is required to make predictions for our observations. Our data suggest that we are located some 13.7 Gyr from a Big Bang.  To make a reliable prediction from that information, we have to assume that it describes our physical situation. If the universe is rife with delusion, we must assume that  we are atypical in order to have predictive and testable scientific theories. Indeed, it is only by making such assumptions that we are able to do science in a very large universe. We imagine that even Copernicus would have agreed that it was necessary to assume that Ptolemy was not deluded in his observations of the planets."

Mark Srednicki and James Hartle from UCSB wrote those ideas down.

One of the issues these scientists are addressing is predictivity. A scientific theory must be predictive. Somehow they connect that idea with the fact that our Universe is large. That is a positive statement and may have consequences. We are in the borderline between been the only intelligent life in the Universe, and just been some regular chap in the block. Which one are we?